Vallaki, the fortified town to which the adventurers took Ireena, is an important place in the progression of running Curse of Strahd. It provides a place where the players can rest between expeditions and also provides a number of NPCs who can guide the players towards quests. The Blue Water Inn is the hub of this. We tend to think of adventurers being given quests … Continue reading Running Curse of Strahd, part 2
The Beast is the first adventure of the new D&D Adventurers League season set fully in Barovia. The adventure, a two-hour affair written by Alan Patrick, is a strong one. It tells the tale of the characters arriving in the village of Oraşnou, a village that relies primarily on trading furs with the Vistani to ensure it has the supplies it needs for the winter. … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: DDAL4-02 The Beast
James Haeck’s The Temple of Shattered Minds is an adventure about an elven village that is being preyed upon by an insane mind flayer and his minions. The adventure is written in three parts. Part I: Alkai Tor describes a village (hamlet?) of humans and elves that has lost most of its members to thralldom and murder. The remaining twenty villagers are paranoid and unsure … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: The Temple of Shattered Minds
After the TPK (Total Party Kill) in Death House, we started playing the full Curse of Strahd adventure. And, of course, things promptly got interesting. Curse in Strahd is an adventure where the players need to deal with a great threat – the vampire Strahd, ruler of Barovia – without initially having the tools to do so. There are a lot of people who think … Continue reading Running Curse of Strahd, part 1
The latest D&D accessory from Gale Force 9 is the Tarokka deck: a deck of 54 black-and-white cards designed to use with the Curse of Strahd adventure. The cards are a standard Magic size and so are easily protected with deck sleeves. The art – as seen in many places around the web – is glorious. Unfortunately, the cards don’t really show the art in … Continue reading D&D Accessory Review: Tarokka Deck
I’ve been a Magic: the Gathering player for many years now (having started in April 1994), and one of the accessories I really like are the Ultra Pro Card Folders. They’re sturdy, well-made, and I store a lot of my cards in them. When I learnt that Ultra Pro were doing a Character Folio in which I could store character sheets and spell cards, I … Continue reading D&D Accessory Review: Ultra Pro Character Folio
“All of this must be true, because the hermit told the tale just as it was written on the only thing of value in his meagre hut…”– The tale of Menet-Ka Dan Dillon’s Last Gasp, written for the Southlands setting of Kobold Press, hits one of my real loves of fantasy role-playing games: adventures set in a land inspired by Ancient Egypt. Pharaoh remains my … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Last Gasp
Tower of the Mad Mage is an adventure set in the Forgotten Realms for 1st-level characters by M.T. Black. It should take about 4-6 hours to play. The adventure begins when an injured goblin bursts into the inn the player characters are staying in, and declares that he can make them rich! All they need to do is help him… The bulk of the adventure … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Tower of the Mad Mage
A few weeks ago, I was listening to Jeff Greiner, Sam Dillon, Mike Shea and Wolfgang Baur discuss designing adventures for the DMs Guild on the Tome Show. One of the many interesting comments they made was that there was a need for very short side treks that could be dropped into campaigns. That was the starting point. I’ve been interested in writing and publishing … Continue reading Inspiration and Designing an Adventure
Black Hill Games’ To Serve is a supplement that focuses on characters who were once or are currently slaves. It provides players and DMs with a short discussion on the historical context of slavery and its use in a D&D campaign, before introducing the Slave background and a new monk subclass. One of the troubles with this take on the background is that it is … Continue reading 5E Supplement Review: To Serve
